On October 29th, director, producer, and Academy Award-nominated actor John Malkovich and Hollywood producer Michael Fitzgerald will attend the second United States-Kazakhstan Film Festival in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Mr. Malkovich and Mr. Fitzgerald will lead master classes, discussions, and screenings with Kazakh students, directors, actors, critics, film professionals, and festival participants. This effort supports Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s “smart power” approach to global engagement, drawing on the full range of diplomatic and cultural resources to work toward achieving our foreign policy objectives.

The U.S. Department of State is pleased to support their participation in the festival, which is the most recent result of collaboration between the American film industry, including Martin Scorsese’s Film Foundation, and the Kazakh film industry that originated with the first U.S.-Kazakhstan Film Festival in 2005.

The Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs (ECA) promotes international mutual understanding through a wide range of academic, cultural, professional, and sports exchange programs. ECA exchanges engage youth, students, educators, artists, athletes, and emerging leaders in many fields in the United States and in more than 160 countries. Alumni of ECA exchanges comprise over 1 million people around the world, including more than 40 Nobel Laureates and more than 300 current or former heads of state and government.